Venice as a Horizon Watercolor
Sophia Khan
Venice Horizon
A horizon is one of the most beautiful and inviting sights I know. For those of us who love Venice, I think our affinity for horizons is part of what lures us to the Venetian lagoon.
A horizon, wherever we may happen to find one, is a place we romantically look towards. I think this is because, through its visage, we are gifted a feeling of renewed hope around our lives and within ourselves. We find tranquility and excitement for where we are in life, and where we are going....the ripples of shimmering water ushering us towards an expanse which seems distant, yet is promising.
While the horizon may seem like a place where sea and sky meet, it is, in essence, an illusion. Except when the horizon appears to us as Venice; a place conceived and existing within this otherwise imaginary line. For me, this means Venice invites us to believe in everything that otherwise seems impossible.
In Venice, the sea weds the sky in infinite ways, throughout each second of encounter. I like imagining that the shape of the gondola - the means by which we navigate for ourselves this ever changing horizon of Venice - is symbolic of this meeting between the vertical and horizontal. On a personal note, perhaps it is for this reason that the experience of drifting on a gondola is one that I have intuitively reserved for a future time in my life...
Venice Horizon
Venice is a place that also reminds us of what is beautiful within each of us. How we experience the city and what is most memorable to us about the city, reveals something about ourselves we might otherwise not be aware of when we are home. This certainly has been my own personal experience.
Being an Artist who often reflects on why I make art, it is my hope that what I’ve written and painted here might offer an opening; a moment of repose within your day, a moment to dwell within a field of infinite possibilities, which the city of Venice graces upon us. And if you're blessed to have had your own experience of the city, perhaps it may also be an invitation to bask in a special memory, or feeling, that the city has gifted you. Whether this respite is around what is happening in Venice or within our individual lives is unique to each of us.
As I painted these watercolors and wrote these words, it certainly offered a very special opening for me. And I share from a place of knowing that experiencing joy and hope, and believing in miracles is one of the greatest and most precious gifts we have....
If you feel called to these words and watercolors, and may want to have your own personal "Venice Horizon" - an art experience inspired by what is most memorable to you about Venice - sign up for “Letters from my Studio,” here, and I will be sharing more.....
Venice Horizon